Long post warning, so skip over if you're busy on a Wednesday…
Apparently I'm a bad historian, I had been meaning to make this post about my grandfathers time during WWII and this specific battle when it happened, as I thought it was part of Bastogne (which started today in 1944), but once I got going saw it was during September and October. Oops, oh well, still an incredible story I wanted to share with the board. I know it's cliche but it's so true when people say "they don't make people like those of the greatest generation anymore".
Here is an article we found in an old newspaper they published while my grandfather was off to war. While I know several people on the board I try to keep some anonymity so I blacked out his name is all.
But so you don't have to strain your eyes reading it all, here is typed up.
Grandpa didn't talk much about his time in the service after he got out, not to his sons, or grandkids like me, so it was surprising to find this article from a letter he sent back. He was a great man and always chose his words carefully. Anything that wasn't tied down he sent back, we have tons of stuff he "liberated", I always enjoy looking through it all at least once a year.
Just a few things pictured here, he also sent back several guns including a Luger, among other pistols. The flag picture is taken with a wideangle lense and takes up the entire floor of my parents living room when unrolled. Wonder what it was designed to be flown over.
Apparently I'm a bad historian, I had been meaning to make this post about my grandfathers time during WWII and this specific battle when it happened, as I thought it was part of Bastogne (which started today in 1944), but once I got going saw it was during September and October. Oops, oh well, still an incredible story I wanted to share with the board. I know it's cliche but it's so true when people say "they don't make people like those of the greatest generation anymore".
Here is an article we found in an old newspaper they published while my grandfather was off to war. While I know several people on the board I try to keep some anonymity so I blacked out his name is all.
But so you don't have to strain your eyes reading it all, here is typed up.
Quote:
I have a letter from [my grandfather] of Caldwell, in which he vividly recounts the battle of hill 318. I am going to let you read it but first must say that [my grandfather] is the holder of the Purple Heart award, good conduct medal, infantryman combat badge, president's unit citation, six battle stars, and the Bronze Star medal. He is now in Germany with the occupation forces of the Fourth Armored Division. Here is the story of Hill 318:
"That was a hill that nobody will ever forget, the bloodiest battle of the war for me. Hill 318 was located about 23 miles east of Nancy in Southern France. The battle began the latter part of September and ended the middle of October, fighting all that time for one hill. The first morning when we tried to capture the hill, it was raining and we did not succeed. So the next morning the Nazis started coming after us. Our company had about 197 men without tank support, while the Germans had between 500-1000 men and tank support, so they kept pushing us back. They were shooting everything they had, so we did too. On the third morning, they counter-attacked and as it was a foggy morning they succeeded at it. But we would not give up. We called for tank support and got it in a few minutes. When the Germans saw our tanks racing for the Hill it was a sad day for them. The tanks knocked out nine heavy Germany tanks and after we finally received air support, the air corps got eight making seventeen. Our company took about three hundred prisoners.
The German artillery was shelling us all the time and the fields were dug up and looked as if they had been plowed. Shells were falling everywhere like hail stones. We had to have our slit trenches deep to keep the shells from hitting us. Out of the 197 men we had 42 men left. Some were killed and others badly wounded. That's where I got my share of the Nazis. My 50 cal. Machine gun on my half-track was redhot for ten minutes and for three nights I didn't sleep a wink. There were five of us riding in a half-track. I was the only one left in the half-track on Hill 318 all the others were killed. My best buddy was standing by my side when a shell hit him, and he was killed instantly. Another boy was badly wounded and I was carrying him to a place of safety but on the way down he died in my arms. I was bloody all over as I was trying to help as much as I could giving the men first aid. The medics really did their part , too. (it was at this time that I was wounded last October.) The size of the shells were about like fifty-gallon drums, so you can imagine what happened when one would hit. No, this hill will never be forgotten as long as I live."
Grandpa didn't talk much about his time in the service after he got out, not to his sons, or grandkids like me, so it was surprising to find this article from a letter he sent back. He was a great man and always chose his words carefully. Anything that wasn't tied down he sent back, we have tons of stuff he "liberated", I always enjoy looking through it all at least once a year.
Just a few things pictured here, he also sent back several guns including a Luger, among other pistols. The flag picture is taken with a wideangle lense and takes up the entire floor of my parents living room when unrolled. Wonder what it was designed to be flown over.
